The storyteller figurine is amongst the most charming art forms created by the Southwestern Indians, which is an adaption from the figurative pottery that the Cochiti Indians made. The storytellers represent the cultural tradition of story telling amongst Native Americans. The first contemporary storyteller doll, made in 1964 by Helen Cordero of the Cochiti Pueblo in honor of her grandfather, Santiago Quintana, a storyteller. The clay figurine showed a man with five children on his lap and shoulders.
This storyteller was created by Jane during the summer of 1997. She says that she worked on it
the entire summer as she wanted it completed by the time school started so she could share it
with the students.
"There are ten children on the storyteller and they each tell a story",
Jane explains, "The first I created as a baby in a cradleboard held in the arms of the storyteller,
and the second is the child at the foot of the cradle asking to see the baby. The third child is
the boy with his head turned as if talking to the second child and telling him to leave the baby
alone or he'll make her cry. The fourth is a little girl holding a doll and proudly saying,
"I've got a baby of my own." The fifth child is next to the fourth and she comments on how she
has no doll to play with. The sixth child is holding a bowl and eating and he says, "Just leave
eachother alone, eat dinner and we'll all be happy." The seventh has a drum and is singing to
the baby and other children, but no one is listening. The eighth child is a young teen trying
to flirt with the ninth child who is a young teen boy holding a ball. And finally the tenth
child is a teen girl on her mother's shoulder doing what so many children do, she is
tattling on the boy who has the ball and that he won't share it."
This storyteller doll measures 19"x20" and unfortunately Jane has yet to create another since.
Click on image to enlarge.
